Matthew 6: 25-33 - October 13, 2024 - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday for celebrating the bounty of the field and all our blessings, presenting the first and best to God. Although we often hear the US and Canadian Thanksgiving holidays traced back to a harvest feast shared by the English colonists of Plymouth Massachusetts and the Wampanoag people some 400 years ago, I’d suggest that the roots of Thanksgiving Sunday back go back more than 2,000 years, to the Jewish Harvest Festivals.  Much like the Oliver – Osoyoos area, where there are many harvests rom July to October as various fruits and vegetables are ready for harvest, there were three annual harvest times in Galilee and Judaea – barley in the spring, wheat in the summer, and fruits, grapes and olives in the fall.  Each of these harvests was marked by its own religious ceremony and celebration.

In our earliest days in Ministry, serving three small towns in eastern Saskatchewan, everything in the community, whether you lived in town or on the farm, relied on the harvest.   School started around Labour Day, but farm kids were often needed to help with harvest until late September, and I understand that in years gone by, this was the case here in the south Okanagan as well.  In our Saskatchewan congregations you couldn’t start Sunday School until the crop was off because you would have neither students nor teachers until then, and if it seeding had been late, or if farms had been hailed out, or if the frost came early, or if it was a bad year for crop diseases or pests, Thanksgiving Sunday was a bit moted. We still had carrots and winter squash and onions and zucchini and tomatoes on display, but things felt a bit shaky because a lean harvest meant a worrisome winter. 

It is a delight for Shannon and me to live in an area with so many fruit and vegetable stands.  The tomatoes have been amazing and sweet, and we’ve had local apples that are like an entirely new fruit, so crisp and flavourful.  But we also know that this has been an awful year for the vineyards and orchards and those whose livelihood rests on them, due to the prolonged deep freeze in January, and the closure of BC Tree Fruits made it that much harder.  And as we look at erratic weather patterns made so much worse by human-induced climate change we can expect many more such years.  As we gather for Thanksgiving Sunday we would love to offer unqualified thanks for a bountiful harvest, but this year, that to me would seem off-target, even dishonest.

So I ask: what does Thanksgiving look like when the harvest isn’t particularly bountiful? Or, more broadly how do we give thanks in any lean times – times of grief or loss, times of high anxiety, low hope or endless uncertainty, or times when your spiritual life has gone flat? 

Thankfully, the Bible – which we described as the “field guide” in our  Intentional Interim backpack– is well aware of life’s challenges.   Our friend in Canmore, the retired Anglican Priest Rev. Dr. Richard LeSeur, points out that the vast majority of the Bible was written when the Israelites and early Christians were overrun by some nation or other: the Romans, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians.  The various books of the Bible, then, shows deep awareness of life in hard times, and while these difficulties were duly lamented the people refused to be defeated by them.  They found ways to give thanks to God, for God’s past faithfulness and future promise, even  when all outward indicators were grim.

Our reading this morning from the gospel of Matthew (6: 26-29) has some thoughtful, lyrical words on how to reframe one’s life, asking “which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?... Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…. [and] consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these”.

Look at the birds of the air – consider the lilies of the field.  Using two analogies from nature, Jesus shines a light on the human propensity to make things worse by fretting about them.  Those of us who have lived with decades of depression or anxiety know that worry is not an easy adversary to defeat but there’s an important point for us to hear.  Middle East Pilgrimage leader Rev Dr Andrew Mayes states that the word “consider” used here by Jesus means to pay close and prolonged attention to something, so you may learn from it. Consider the way the lilies are resourceful by design, taking the nutrients from the water and soil and sunshine, transforming that into sustaining energy that blooms.  And behold how a bird shapes its day, combining its innate and learned abilities to build a nest, flirt, find food, nurture its young, migrate.  And as we pause to contemplate what we see in the daily and seasonal routines of the birds and the lilies, we are likely to experience awe and wonder in their innate abilities to survive and thrive even in scarcity.  We will also notice that neither birds nor flowers are ruled by a wristwatch or a calendar, and neither of them intentionally increase their anxiety by doom-scrolling through the alarming headlines on their smartphones.   Both plants and birds can and do experience stress, caused by weather, or predators, or invasive species, or scarcity of nutrition, or harmful human activity, but do not add to the stress by their own imaginings.  And the flowers, in particular, aren’t motivated by envy or jealousy or a fear of missing out; as Jesus said, even Solomon in all his glory wasn’t dressed in threads that could outstrip the natural beauty of nature.

Jesus’ words about the birds and flowers not wasting energy on things beyond their control remind me of the words of the serenity prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”.  When the harvest is meager, we lean into this truth.  When life is hard, we are honest about that, with ourselves and with God, and seek positive, creative ways forward.   Many growers in the Okanagan had no stone fruit to sell this year, many vintners will not have a 2024 vintage wine and knowing this, many growers pivoted, quickly, to crops they could grow and sell in order to survive into 2025. And while it’s a very different thing from the crop failure, let’s face it:  in Church life the harvest hasn’t been all that great for quote a while; we’ve all seen the steady decline in Church involvement in Canada since the mid 1960s. A major part of our Interim time together will be to determine who God calls you to be here, now, even while acknowledging that Canadian Church life is not easy.  Thanksgiving in more meagre times still expresses gratitude, but does so as we realistically discern where we can make a difference, and where our efforts will be fruitless.

I mentioned earlier that our ancestors in the faith lived through some very grim times of being overrun by foreign oppressors, and still managed to find faith and gratitude.  So did our most recent ancestors. Both of my parents were born in the early 1920s, grew up in the depression and were teenagers at the start of World War II, and it shaped them – and by extension, shaped my brother and me, as we learned how to scrimp and save, how to mend and fix and never be wasteful, and how to be grateful for what you have, even if it’s not everything you expected.   

This fall, Shannon and I watched a British TV series from a dozen years ago entitled “Wartime Farm” where three adults, a historian and two archaeologists, lived together on a farm with the same surroundings, constraints and circumstances people would have faced in the war years.  One of the episodes spoke of how the Brits, during World War II, addressed Christmas dinner at a time when a Christmas goose or turkey was almost impossible to source.   The British Ministry of Food published instructions on how to make a mock Turkey, a pile of sausage and bread stuffing shaped like the body of the bird, with two parsnips peeled and carved into the shape of turkey legs.  To be honest, it looked kind of sad and ridiculous, but the people on the TV show who had been simulating farm life during the war years spoke in glowing terms about (a) how good it tasted and (b) how much it meant to do something “normal”, to celebrate Christmas even when the life of the nation was turned upside-down by war.  Here in Canada, folks grew Victory Gardens, and found other creative ways to keep on keeping on. In a way, those brave and creative efforts help to demonstrate our capacity to gives thanks in lean times: you bravely forge ahead, doing the best you can under the circumstances, and realize that a cultivated attitude of gratitude, especially if shared in community, will get you through a lot of things.  

For even in the midst of hard times, friends in Christ, when the harvest is a flop, when we are missing loved ones who will not be sitting down at table with us this Thanksgiving, when we are dealing with challenging life circumstances, thanksgiving is not only possible, but helpful. We learn to see the good, we learn to count our blessings – not in a trite, dutiful way, but in a way that honours the very gift of life – and we seek ways that we can be of Christian service to others, even in hard circumstances.  And so we give thanks for past and present, we give thanks for future hope, we give thanks for the people with whom we share our lives, we give thanks, as we did last Sunday, for simple pleasures like a favourite song or a favourite place or a favourite flavour.  We lift a prayer for those who are in situations that need as much support as they can get.  Yes, it’s a lot easier for me to be upbeat and happy and grateful when things are good and bountiful and I’m feeling encouraged, but I have also found that I can authentically find and express gratitude without ignoring or minimizing the challenges. 

“Look at the birds of the air”, said Jesus, “they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…. [and] consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these”.  May your lives, and the life we share as Church, truly flourish, this day and always.  Amen.

 

References cited or consulted:

Ekins, Carolyn https://the1940sexperiment.com/2023/09/24/mock-turkey-wartime-christmas-recipe-no-215/

Government of BC, “Tree Fruit Blossom and Harvest Schedule” https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/agriculture-and-seafood/animal-and-crops/crop-production/tree_fruit_blossom_and_harvest_schedule.pdf

Kohn, Daniel. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/pilgrimage-festivals/

LeSueur, Richard. https://www.fifthgospel.ca/

Mayflower 400. https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/who-were-the-pilgrims/2019/july/the-story-of-thanksgiving-and-the-national-day-of-mourning/   

Mayes, Andrew. https://www.spiritualityadviser.com/

Wartime Farm: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2470814/

 

© 2024 Rev Greg Wooley, Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge.

 

Psalm 8 - 6 October 2024

I’m going to start today’s message with a task that I think you’re going to enjoy.  I want you to bring to mind some of your very favourite things in life, such as…

·       A song that lifts your spirits every time you hear it;

·       A special place on this planet, breathtaking, lovely, memorable;  

·       A favourite flavour – something sweet or savoury, delicate or robust, that overwhelms your senses with joy.   

As you sit with those life-lifting thoughts, consider that each of us has our own unique answers to the questions, and the variety of answers would only grow if we asked the same questions of even more people.  Each of us have our own distinct, treasured points of joy that shape our relationship with God, the creative and loving source of all that is.  And on this World Communion Sunday, we celebrate a whole world filled with sounds and tastes and vistas, each of us experiencing the glory of God in our own life’s context, each nation and each faith community and each worshiper lifting praise to God in a unique way.

If we could somehow bundle all of those life-lifting experiences together, in this room, in this town, around the world, we would start to approach the emotional landscape of today’s scripture reading, the 8^th Psalm.  If reading the Book of Psalms from front to back, this is the first Psalm whose main task is to sing Praise to God, and it has inspired thousands of years of worship.

This Psalm begins by praising God and it ends with praising God, so pretty much every Bible commentator I’ve seen make the same point: if this is your Sunday scripture make sure, preacher, that you praise God too! In addition to starting and ending with praise, note that the entire Psalm is spoken TO God, no part of it is just speaking ABOUT God.  That’s quite unusual in the Psalms; most often, part of the Psalm addresses God, with wonder or gratitude or anger or regret, and then in other spots the Psalmist is clearly addressing the people, either recalling an experience with God, or calling on them to respond in some way.  Not in Psalm 8, though; here, every piece of it is spoken in a Godward direction.

And that’s important to consider, when we dive into the Psalm’s content.   Shauna Hannan, a professor who teaches preaching at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California, proposes that the author of the Psalm used this structure:

A – Doxology (a hymn of praise to God)

B – God’s work

C – Who am I?

B¹ – God’s work

A¹ – Doxology

The Psalm begins and ends with the same exact statement of praise, “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” 

Just after the beginning and just before the end, God’s work is made evident in the babbling of babies, the stars in the heavens, the lives of birds and fish and livestock. All these make up that “chorus of all creation, the song of all living things” we sang about two Sundays ago. 

In the middle of the Psalm, between those words of praise, are words to be considered with care and caution.  Here, the Psalmist asks God a big, somewhat rhetorical question:

⁴ what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

(repeat) ⁴ what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

Indeed, amidst the vastness of galaxies, how could we humans even expect to be on God’s radar?  The Psalmist, anxious to fill the uncomfortable silence, answers his own question, like so:

⁵ Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.  ⁶ You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet.

On their own, these words come off as deeply arrogant, as if the sun and the moon and the stars bow down before us godlike humans.  Admittedly, there is a degree of human-centeredness here that makes God’s love for ALL creation a bit hazy. And more dangerously, taken out of context, they seem to suggest that God has given humankind carte blanche in doing whatever we want with this planet, using the soil and the trees and every creature for whatever personal benefit we choose.  But that ignores the whole point of this Psalm: it’s a love song to God.  

The key word, “dominion”, found in the verse 6 of this Psalm and in the legend of creation in the first chapter of Genesis (vv. 26-31), must not be misunderstood, accidentally or intentionally.  This is not permission to do whatever we want, relative to the plants and animals entrusted to our care, but is rather the trust that a loving parent has entrusted in their children to be kind, respectful and responsible. Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about this in her wonderful book, Braiding Sweetgrass, as she articulates the unwritten but broadly understood First Nations rules of the “honourable harvest”: (p.183)  “Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life…. Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need…. Never take more than half. Leave some for others…. Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share…. Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”  Indeed, we humans as a species have a choice to make. We can live in harmony with our surroundings, and steward it in healthy, sustainable ways – and as Robin Wall Kimmerer details in her book, this kind of stewardship can and does happen - or we can let carelessness and greed take over, and watch the majesty and intricacy of the earth and all that dwell therein be crushed to powder.  In stating we are just “a little lower than God” this Psalm insists that we pay attention to the love that God has for the world, an attentive love of constant renewal, and calls us emulate that. We are called to be wise stewards, care-takers, those who with sacred intent restore and reclaim that which has been entrusted to our care, so that God’s holy harmonies can be heard once more.  

In this season of creation, on this World Communion Sunday which shines a light on our interconnections with believers everywhere, we pause once more to think of all the things we brought to mind at the start of this message, things that make life so extraordinary – the tastes, the sights, the melodies, all that makes our hearts sing.  We bring sober thought to the fragility of this planet, and our responsibility to care for it, not diminish it.  And we open ourselves to the God who is not only at the beginning and end of this Psalm, but at the beginning and end of our lives.  To that God, we give our trust, our love, our thanks and our praise.  Amen.

 

References cited or consulted:

Duck, Ruth. “It’s a song of praise to the maker”, More Voices #30, verse 4 © 1992 by GIA Publications, Chicago IL.

Forsey, Eugene et al. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dominion

Hannan, Shauna. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/the-holy-trinity/commentary-on-psalm-8-18

LeMon, Joel. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-2/commentary-on-psalm-8-19

Mast, Stan. https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2016-05-16/psalm-8-3/

Purdie, Silvia. https://www.conversations.net.nz/psalm-8-out-of-the-mouths-of-babes.html

Quanstrom, Danny. https://www.aplainaccount.org/post/psalm-8-1

Stott, Joan. http://www.thetimelesspsalms.net/w_resources/pentecost1a_2014.htm

Wall Kimmerer, Robin. Braiding Sweetgrass.  Minneapolis: Milkweed, 2013.

 

 © 2024 Rev Greg Wooley, Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge.

 

Mark 9: 30-37 - 29 September 2024

 

A number of you might remember Raffi, a Canadian Children’s musician from the 1980s and 1990s.  With songs like Baby Beluga, Raffi Cavoukian treated his young audience with gentleness and respect, and with a commitment to a world of harmony: harmony between people, harmony between humans and the environment, and a world in which children could be children, motivated by play and wonder rather than consumerism.

It was with joy, then, and no big surprise, when I learned what Raffi is up to these days.  Shannon introduced me to a book entitled Child Honoring: How to turn this world around which was co-edited by Raffi and a Clinical Psychology Professor named Sharna Olfman, As we engage a story in which Jesus brings a child into the middle of his disciples, and as we, on orange shirt Sunday lament the actions of the Church to Indigenous children, let’s hear what Raffi Cavoukian has to say about Child Honouring:

(p. xviii) “Across all cultures, we find an essential humanity that is most visible in early childhood – a playful, intelligent and creative way of being…. The impressionable early years are the most vulnerable to family dynamics, cultural values, and planetary conditions.

“Child honouring is a vision, organizing principle, and way of life… it is a ‘children first’ approach to healing communities and restoring ecosystems; it views how we regard and treat our young as the key to building a humane and sustainable world…. Child Honouring is a global credo for maximizing joy and reducing suffering by respecting the goodness of every human being at the beginning of life with benefits rippling in all directions”.

And then Raffi asks this:

(xix) “What does it mean to honour children?  It means seeing them for the creatively intelligent people they are, respecting their personhood as their own, recognizing them as essential members of the community, and providing the fundamental nurturance they need in order to flourish.”

These words are so full of wisdom.  As they point to a potentially hopeful future, if children and the world they live in are shaped by respect and loving care, they take me back to the days in my family history when my most important job was to be a kind, attentive, emotionally available parent to our young children.  It was so evident that these young lives were impressionable and vulnerable, and I had been given the wondrous gift of God’s grace to be charged with the task of parenting.  As they learned and grew and amazed me with their innate sense of honesty, curiosity, creativity and joy, I prayed for God’s help in not messing up – to help them experience the world as a good place, a safe place, supported by relational love.

I think much, much further back in our faith family history, to an instance when the disciples were behaving not as wide-eyed children, but as bickering adolescents. (Mark 9: 30-37) They were just starting to internalize the idea that to follow Jesus was to deny one’s own ego needs in favour of a new realm of liberty and love… when someone in the group pointed out that HE was actually Jesus’ favourite and would certainly be ‘second in command’ in this new Kingdom.

I can just see them whispering and jostling, when Jesus asks them, “watcha talking about, fellas?” and the truth comes out.  Looking for a clear way to get their thoughts and behaviours back on track, he brings a child into the middle of the circle, holds the child in his arms and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9: 36-37)

Recalling the sensation, of holding a child in my arms, perhaps reading a story together, it’s not hard to draw a line between that personal experience of mine, and this picture of Jesus from the 9^th chapter of Mark, and Raffi’s big concept of child honouring.  To receive a child with love, to honour the preciousness of their personhood, is a passageway through which we understand God’s love for the world, and the love we are to have for the young lives untrusted to our care, and the care of this fragile land on which we live.  Now, Biblical scholars such as Fritz Wendt remind me not to get too carried away here with a warm fuzzy interpretation of the 9^th chapter of Mark, for children in Jesus’ day were not yet regarded as fully human until they reached adulthood, and many children were treated as the lowest of servants or slaves. In this scene, then, a child is more a metaphor for powerlessness or nothingness than a cute, cuddly little person whom everyone would be drawn to – but still, amidst a group of disciples unable to stop themselves from dreaming of power and grandeur, it is powerful that Jesus changes their focal point by putting a child in their midst.

When the Dominion of Canada was in its infancy, Sir John A MacDonald and the other leaders of the day were faced with a problem.  The land, not just the first four provinces but now including Manitoba and BC and PEI was so vast, with such potential, AND IT WAS ALREADY INHABITED.  That COULD have been perceived as an opportunity or even an asset – neighbours who already understood how this land worked, knew the wildlife that lived here, had identified the plants that could bring nutrition and remedy.  But no, European arrogance won the day, and the Indigenous people already here got labelled as a problem to be solved.

Working hand in hand, Church and state combined in the shameful system known as the Indian Residential Schools, designed, in the chilling terms they actually used, to “solve the Indian problem”.  Even those who brought higher, more loving ideals to their work in the schools were ham-strung by chronic underfunding and miserably isolated surroundings that created a perfect environment for abuse.  As a third generation United Church Minister, I carry the shame, regret and accountability for what Church folks and bureaucrats and teachers and medical personnel did with the young lives entrusted to their care.  Not only was it child DIShonouring, it led to generation after generation of Indigenous children who experienced adults not as loving mentors who would care for them, but as mean-spirited, unsafe taskmasters.  Wearing an orange shirt today reminds me not only of the mistreatment of young children like Phyllis Webstad at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School near Williams Lake - and children from the Osoyoos Indian Band who were sent to St. Eugene's IRS near Cranbrook, and the notorious IRS at Kamloops - but it also reminds me of the great responsibility that every adult has, to influence a child’s life and to be re-shaped by the child’s wide-eyed curiosity and innate wisdom.  God gives us these opportunities for growth, and to not only squander that opportunity, but to pivot it in evil ways as so often happened at the Residential Schools, is an affront to God: Creator, Christ and Spirit.

So what does the way forward look like?  Well, for starters we acknowledge that in the journey of truth and reconciliation, we are still in that first phase, of hearing and processing the truth; we’re not at the point of putting this all behind us.  As Indigenous people in their own time, work through what has happened and discover their authentic path forward, I pray that it will be a shared journey that we are invited to join.  Our twelve years in Canmore, on the ancestral lands of the Stoney Nakoda, the other signatories of Treaty 7, and, in Alberta, the Metis Nation, taught me that the road ahead must be full of patience, respect, a willingness to be confused and make mistakes and fall flat on our faces, AND the possibility of seeing the gifts of land and life in new and expansive ways.  As I learn how to live in the unceded territory of the Osoyoos Indian Band of the Okanagan Nation Alliance, some of those prior learnings will be of use and others will need to be re-learned; and once again, the orange shirt reminds me of what happens when arrogance interferes with the journey.  Quoting again from Jesus, as he embraced a child, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and a servant to all” (Mark 9:35).  That humility, even servitude, will shape our next steps.

And so will the lessons of child honouring.  Ending today’s message as it began, I share these words from Raffi Cavoukian.   He wrote them while visiting the state of Virginia, so they are shaped by the words of the U.S. Declaration of Independence which I find a wee bit off-putting, but they totally draw me back to what Jesus is calling us to be, as those entrusted with shaping the lives of children.  May these words and principles inform us in Church life, call us back to a place of profound respect every time we interact with cultures and societies unfamiliar to us, and state our intentions for our connection to each child and the world they live in.   And with that, “A covenant for honouring children” (Child Honoring, pp. xxi – xxii)

“We find these joys to be self-evident: that all children are created whole, endowed with innate intelligence, with dignity and wonder, worthy of respect.

“The embodiment of life, liberty and happiness, children are original blessings, here to learn their own song.  Every girl and boy is entitled to love, to dream, and to belong to a loving ‘village’, and to pursue a life of purpose.

“We affirm our duty to nourish and nurture the young, to honour their caring ideals as the heart of being human, to recognize the early years as the foundation of life, and to cherish the contribution of young children to human evolution.

“We commit ourselves to peaceful ways and vow to keep from harm or neglect these, our most vulnerable citizens.  As guardians of their prosperity we honour the bountiful Earth whose diversity sustains us.  Thus we pledge our love for generations to come”.

Amen!

 

References cited:

Cavoukian, Raffi and Olfman, Sharna (ed’s). Child Honoring: How to turn the world around.  Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006.

Hooper, Tristin.  “Here is what Sir John A. MacDonald did to Indigenous People.”  NationalPost.com, posted August 28, 2018.

Orange Shirt Society. Orangeshirtday.org

https://raffinews.com/raffi/bio/

Wendt, Fritz.  Political Theology.com: “Receiving the Kingdom as a little child – Mark 9: 30-37” posted September 17, 2018.

See also: Louie, Chief Clarence. Rez Rules. © 2021. Published by Penguin Random House/McClelland and Stewart.

 

© 2024, Rev Greg Wooley, Osoyoos – Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge.

 

Mark 8: 27-35 - 22 September 2024

 Osoyoos-Oliver United – Rev Greg Wooley

It may go without saying, but the place we live plays a significant role in our understanding of God and Spirit and the meaning of life.

I first experienced this in my early 20s, when for two years I was given the great opportunity to serve two rural pastoral charges east of Regina as a lay preacher.  That taught this city boy quite a bit about what it was like to have one’s life and livelihood shaped by the cycle of seedtime and harvest.  A summer in the Philippines opened our eyes and hearts to the realities of the global south.  Serving Churches in the big, multicultural city of Calgary and in the town of Canmore, once shaped coal mining but now an Olympic venue shaped by recreation and retirees, my faith and life were, again, shaped by my surroundings. And while we’ve been in the south Okanagan less than two months, it hasn’t taken long to learn the close relationship here between extreme climate events, the yield of vine and orchard, and people’s mental and spiritual health.

This impact of WHERE something happens is also true when we read the Bible. As I mentioned on my first Sunday in this pulpit, Shannon and I were blessed in the spring of 2018 to spend time in the land of the Holy One, walking the footsteps of Jesus.  One of the things I brought home from that pilgrimage is a new attentiveness to WHERE a Biblical story takes place.  Place names which I previously thought were just throw-away details to help us track the travels of Jesus or Paul or even Moses are often keys to understanding what was said and done in that place.

Such a place is Caesarea Philippi, in northeast Israel by the Golan Heights, a national park now known by its traditional name, Banias.  The villages near here, we are told, is the setting for today’s gospel reading.

The first thing one notices here, is how beautiful it is.  Not far from the heights of Mount Hermon, one finds here stunning waterfalls, and the headwaters of the Jordan River.  This was one of the places that inspired the Psalmist to proclaim the glory of God’s handiwork, and the Jewish people weren’t the only ones drawn here.  There were no fewer than seven religious sites at Caesarea Philippi, at least five of which would have been present in some form in the days of Jesus.  Here, there is a grotto of the god Pan (from whom the name Banias/Panias is derived) where gifts were brought to appease divine anger. There was a series of niches hewn into the rock face, containing sculptures of Pan’s consort, Echo, and his father, Hermes, and this was a place of sacrifice – even human sacrifice.   At the court of the goddess Nemesis, violent events like wrestling, boxing, gladiator battles, and throwing prisoners to the lions, were considered part of sacred practice.  There was a temple of Zeus, king of the Gods and god of justice and to appease the Romans, a large temple of the emperor Augustus.

As we stood at Caesarea Philippi and imagined the days of Jesus, with these wildly varied religious sites side by side, each one attracting throngs of devotees, a modern-day parallel came clear: this was a religious theme park!  This was less like going to Jerusalem or Mount Sinai, and more like going to Anaheim or Orlando or Vegas.  This was a big, busy, loud, garish place, lively and cruel, peasants side by side with Roman centurions. I have no idea if there were T-shirts declaring, “what happens in Caesarea Philippi stays in Caesarea Philippi” but archeological work does continue!

And this was the place, in the villages of this region, that Jesus stood and asked his disciples this question: “Who do you say that I am?”

Just ponder that for a moment with me.  Not far from the sights and sounds of gladiators and sacrifices and hucksters, Jesus wondered aloud what people-in-general thought of his ministry in contrast to these loud, showy things, and, in essence asks his followers, “do you put your trust in these things, or in me?” Amidst the jostling and the noise, Jesus invites them to go deep into the holy truth within.  In contrast to the selfish side-deals being made all around him, Jesus presented a transformative way that would liberate the oppressed, a way founded in God’s profound love for the world, and then he pushed them to name where their allegiance would lie.

When I imagine a 2024 version of Jesus at Caesarea Philippi, I need to state clearly that I don’t interpret Jesus pitting other religions against “his” religion.  This is not Jesus’ wagging a finger at our Sikh and Indigenous neighbours in favour of what he was offering, not at all.  What I do perceive him doing, standing amidst the clamour and the glitter and the gore, is challenging people of faith to choose something else – something focused on the needs of others, with a hard road ahead.  In the spirit of full disclosure, he warns his followers that his path, God’s path of life-affirming, dignity-uplifting love will be difficult, and their actions will not be well-received by the powerful people.  Yet even then, before the backdrop of all these testosterone-laden showy options, he asks for their hearts – and ours.

While the story of Jesus at Caesarea Philippi had its confrontational elements – like the sharp rebuke of Peter when he simply will not believe that the path of Jesus would ever lead to the cross – the question Jesus posed to the disciples at Caesarea Philippi, a question he asks the people of Osoyoos-Oliver United today, has a huge element of invitation to it.

·       To even field the question “Who do you say that I am?” assumes relationship.  He asks his followers to name what others are saying about him but what matters is the answer of his friends.  He knows we are connected, and invites us to lean into that connection.

·       The personal nature of the question “Who do you say that I am?” respects that each of us will bring our own context and wisdom and experience as we determine how our lives will intersect with the loving, justice-seeking path of Jesus.  For some, the theological points about the holiness of Jesus and his promises of life beyond life will be of great importance and for others, connecting to His agenda to love God and neighbour with everything we can muster here on earth is the key; wherever you land, you are invited on the journey.

·       And “Who do you say that I am?” is not a one-and-done question.  As people of faith, we keep learning and growing, we absorb the hurts and challenges of life as well as being lifted by its joys, and we hear Christ’s question to us over and over again. There will be times when we feel pretty solid in our efforts to love God and love our neighbours, and there will be other times when things get all jangled and all we can do is keep trusting, keep learning, keep loving.  Sometimes Jesus asks this question, not to force a decision, but to reassure us that he is still there, still supportive, still connected.

Standing by a place whose beauty had elicited this exciting and entertaining religious carnival, Jesus asks his disciples – there and then, and here and now - to find a “fit” for his eternal, universal love.  And with that choice he promises to equip us for a life that engages the needs of our neighbours and serves them with love. In our gathered life as a congregation, in our friendships and our family units, in the quiet space of our hearts where we spend time with the Divine, we hear his question, first asked at Caesarea Philippi, now asked to each of us and all of us in this time and place.  May our unfolding, active answers to Christ’s questions draw us closer to God, closer to the needs of the world, and shape our lives with love.  Amen.

References cited:

Burton, Judd H. Religion, Society, and Sacred Space at Banias: A Religious History of Banias/Caesarea Philippi, 21 BC-AD 1635. (PhD dissertation). Lubbock, Texas, © 2010, Judd H. Burton.  Accessed at https://biblewalks.com/Files/BURTON-DISSERTATION.pdf

Theoi: Zeus. http://www.theoi.com/Cult/ZeusCult.html

United Church of Canada. https://www.united-church.ca/community-faith/welcome-united-church-canada/interfaith-relations

© 2024 Rev Greg Wooley, Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge.  

Exodus 14: 19-31 - 15 September 2024

 

The Interim Ministry Backpack - a presentation by Rev Shannon Mang

The story of the Exodus gives us a context to see our own story as we being our Intentional Interim journey together.

- Exodus is a story of how the God of the ancient ancestors Abraham and Sarah entered human history to set free the Hebrew people who had been enslaved for several generations in Egypt. God leading the Hebrews out of enslavement and into freedom is one of the core stories of our Christian tradition. The people wanted freedom in the promised land—but once they were out of immediate danger on the other side of the miraculous crossing of the sea, the grumbling started. It took 40 years of grumbling people in the wilderness- God responding in anger to the grumbling and Moses walking between the people and God for the people to become God’s people, and to leave their identity of enslavement behind them. The story tells us just how hard it is for a group of people to change, and that change will not happen standing still. Real change takes place when a group of people go on a journey together.

-the Hebrew people knew that God was up to something big as both they and the Egyptians lived through the plagues—but they still had to move fast once they were on their way. They left so quickly that they had to carry their unleavened bread with them. They took as much of the stuff of their lives with them as they could, but it wasn’t long for them to be stripped bare in the wilderness.

-We are going on an Intentional Interim Ministry journey together and today I want to talk about the tools that we have with us for our short journey of change:

The Three Questions of the IIM time:

-        These three questions will inform all of our work together. We will be starting with the Who Are We? Question, but as our path emerges, we will be going back and forth between the questions.

 

The Intentional Interim Process invites us to engage Five Focus Points in a congregation’s life. The way that each congregation or pastoral charge engages and studies these Five Focus Points will be different, but what I have experienced is that if a community of faith embraces the work of all five focus points, they will be a healthier community and have more clarity about their future directions by journey’s end. You see that the Transition Team is in the middle of the image and connected to all the focus points—I’ll be coming back to this and talking about the TT shortly. First, I want to unpack the congregation’s work on the focus points using a hiking backpack as our metaphor.  

Interim Minister Backpack-full – Greg and I became hikers while we lived in Canmore.

Interim Minister Backpack – unpacked-  Any time we go on a hike these are the tools in our backpack– they support our journey. They help keep us safe, comfortable and prepared to manage our adventures:

Water

Bear Spray

Sit Upon

Extra layers

sunscreen

First Aid Kit

Binoculars

Bug spray  

Phone

In the IIM backpack we will be bringing along some of these same tools and similar tools to keep ourselves safe, comfortable and prepared to manage the adventures we will have together as we take this Intentional Interim journey together for the next 22 months.

Heritage

-        Magnifiying glass- we will be starting with the Heritage area, using a magnifying glass to understand our past, but we will likely return to the Heritage focus a few times as we uncover interesting patterns and connections between our past, present and future.

-        a mirror helps us see ourselves—a rear-view mirror would be even more appropriate to this Focus Point to help us talk about looking behind us.

-        Field guide/Bible – I’ll calling the Bible our Field Guide in our IIM Backpack. It shows up in three of these Focus Point slides, as our Field Guide is crucial to help us understand our IIM time together. With the Heritage focus point, the Bible informed those who came before us in these communities, and their faith has helped shape our current faith.  

Mission—including Identity and Purpose

-        Candle- candles are an ancient technology- they can help illuminate our surroundings if we are without electricity or batteries. We will have times when we feel we are stumbling about in the dark, and a candle will give us spiritual comfort as well as illumination as we discern our current identity and purpose.

-        the mirror helps us see ourselves with clarity. It is hard to understand our own identity as a congregation or pastoral charge without being able to see ourselves right now.

-        Compass (and multi-tool!!) – compasses are also an ancient and reliable technology to help us find our way, and hopefully, to avoid going in circles. I love that my compass is part of a multi-tool—which is great when we might encounter new situations where the choices of a Swiss army knife—or this sort of multi-tool can provide innovative solutions to a problem.

Leadership – the Leadership Focus point considers our human resources. Prior to Intentional Interim times, both clergy and lay leaders have usually been working full out and are tired. In our IIM backpack we have snacks for nourishment, and water for hydration for leaders who are tired, hungry and thirsty. In an Intentional Interim time, it is important that we take the time to eat together, and provide both care and nourishment along the way.

-        Maps are important—they don’t tell the whole story, but they do give direction and instruction about the terrain we are travelling.  Maps can also be provided by other congregations who are a few years ahead of us in their transition journey. It is exciting to learn from other’s journeys and United Church folk are always willing to share their stories… and their maps.

-        The cute pair of cat gloves are the reminder to have extra layers of clothes in our backpack – there will be changes in weather and it is important to be able to put on extra layers if it becomes cold and wet—and to have space in our backpack to take off layers if we get to hot. The extra layers in an IIM journey are people ready and able to come on board to help with the process—and they are also people who have carried too much for too long who need to step back and take a break from leadership for awhile.

-        The compass and multi-tool is important in this Focus area too, providing new people skill sets and tools for new innovative possibilities.

Connections- to the community and larger church

-        A  First Aid Kit is important to be able to manage small emergencies and get us home safely if we have had an injury. The Region and the National church are like a first aid kit—they provide lots of guidance that is available to churches anytime.

-        In the same way, the cell phone is a way for the larger church to be available to help us out through any emergency or difficult part of our IIM journey.

-        Our cell phone also about connecting us to our local communities —we have access to the wealth of resources in our communities. One of the three questions is “Who are our neighbours?”- so we connect with our neighbours to see where the natural partnerships exist that will help  our sustainability.

-        And our field guide/Bible will continue to inform us about how to be in relationship with the larger United Church and with our broader community.

Future -   this Focus Point invites us to dream past our present realities and discern our responses to the third question—What is God calling us to? 

-        A flashlight, like the candle will help us navigate our way forward when we are walking in the dark

-        binoculars can help us see what is on the horizon, they bring what seems far away into closer focus

-        I no longer carry a camera--- but I depend on the CAMERA that is a part of my (phone) to record the journey—it is important to record this journey from the present into the future- that record will continue to guide these communities of faith

-        And once again we rely on our Field Guide/Bible to help us understand the future that God is calling us towards

Fun That Nourishes-- What Else will we need for our journey together? – let’s have a frisbee to remind us to have fun- let’s take time to play hard along while we work hard. – on Sept 29 we will be worshipping together in Osoyoos at 10am, and then we’ll be having a picnic together. Let’s take this opportunity to have some fun together.

-        And here is a song book to remind us to keep up our spirits by singing along the way

-        Do you have other symbols to help us remember to step lively and have fun??

Walking to the New Land

-        The walking stick is a reminder that we will walk together for only 22 short months—they will be busy and will fly past. The walking stick will help us keep our balance and navigate rough terrain as we will find our way together for the next two years

-        We will be keeping one of the walking sticks in each sanctuary… and they will be a reminder that it is the journey itself that is our work

Five Focus Points slide

-        Now that we have gone through the Five Focus points and the tools in our Backpack- I’d like to talk about the role of the transition team --- in the Exodus story, God directed Moses to share leadership-- Moses and Aaron and Miriam… and quite soon, the story tells us about a very burnt out Moses. God instructed Moses to extend the leadership team to 70 Elders. This work that we are beginning requires that we all be elders - we all do the research and the exploration. The smaller Transition Team is the group that will lead us through the IIM journey.

-        I bring experience, and training and the backing of a network of IIMinisters who help one another out--- but I am not the expert at coming up with the answers to the Three Questions.

-        The Transition Team will be the experts on the two congregations, and one or two Regional representatives on the TT are the experts on the local realities of the South Okanagan. Together, this team guides you--- the network of elders through the Intentional Interim process.  

-        Greg has been handing out nomination forms and pens – the members of the TT are not appointed by your Boards, rather they are lifted up by you. This is not election—it is discernment. Please use these sheets to suggest at least one name, or up to four names of people who you know has the gifts for this work. The list of qualities is on the sheet along with the experience we are looking for. Those named today, and next Sunday for anyone not here today will become our nomination list. We will ask those named to take time to pray and discern for themselves if they are feeling called to this work—in awhile we expect that two people from each congregation will say yes. Please take a few minutes today before you go for coffee, or leave to respond from your heart. Please leave your folded sheets in the basket.

-        Friends, Greg and I have been so warmly welcomed by you and we are glad to be like your Moses and Miriam and Aaron for this journey. God is with us and we are blessed to be taking this Exodus journey with you.

May it be so! Amen

 

Mark 7: 24-30 - 08 September 2024 - Osoyoos Oliver United Pastoral Charge

 I have always loved the stories of Jesus.  I know that for many folks in the Church and beyond the Church, the natural world, the majesty and intricacies of creation, is the main place where God is met, and for others God is primarily a companion met in life’s most difficult times, and while both of those are important to me, I mostly learn about the heart and intent of God by watching and listening to Jesus.  Christ’s desire for healing, his words that both comfort and challenge, his choice of disciples and dinner partners from the margins of society, all tell me what God-informed behaviours look like as we move toward the kin-dom of God.  Shannon and I were blessed by the opportunity to take a trip to the land of the Holy One in 2018, and actually experiencing the lands around the Sea of Galilee makes these stories of Jesus even more real.

It is with great anticipation, then, that I engage today’s story of Jesus and a Syrophoenician woman.  My anticipation is fueled by the story two chapters earlier in Mark’s gospel, in which a woman with a flow of blood is cured by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment, with Jesus proclaiming “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”  In the story adjacent to that one, the synagogue leader Jairus asked Jesus to heal his daughter, and Jesus did so. And I recall also the classic exchange in John’s gospel between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, where Jesus topples all manner of social and religious conventions, as a man talking to a woman, as a Jew interacting with a Samaritan, and as a spiritual guide opening up the potential of life made new, unfettered by old thinking.  

So when the woman in today’s reading, described as “a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin” begs Jesus to enact a healing by casting a demon out of her daughter, I just know what Jesus is going to do and say: he’s going to affirm the woman, he’s going to heal her daughter, he’s going to proclaim that the ethnic and religious background of this woman and her girl makes no difference in the kin-dom of God.  She asked for healing, after all, and restoring people to right relationships is what Jesus in all about.

But that’s not how Jesus answers.  He says, instead, with some of the harshest words to cross his lips, “"Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."  What the heck, Jesus.  A woman with a sick child comes to you and because they’re not from your religious and ethnic background, you not only rebuff her request for healing, you insult them.  This doesn’t sound like the Jesus I know and love.

I’d like you to sit with that disconnect for a moment, for this is a gospel story not to be ignored.  What Jesus says to this woman is pointed and insulting.  She is immediately dismissed, as is her daughter’s illness, because they’re of another religion and ethnicity, and quite possibly, because they’re female.  These hurtful words, words that come too quickly, remind me that in Jesus we see both God and human nature at work simultaneously and oh boy, is this ever a human moment.  For as I am stunned by Jesus’ response, I recall many regrettable moments in my life when my first response has not been based on love and inclusion and a spirit of welcome, times when my first immature, xenophobic thoughts have been mean-spirited, or when I have reflexively blurted out something truly unworthy: racist, sexist, elitist.  I think of those words from this morning’s reading from James, of the importance of not mistreating common folks in order to make things easier for the elites, yet that’s the first thing Jesus blurts out: others are more worthy than you, lady, you don’t even get to line up for crumbs from the table.

So there’s that: in Jesus’ first answer, his humanness comes out.  Unflattering, yes, and so very human.  And fortunately, his first word is not his final word.  Unwilling to be dismissed as “one of them”, the woman makes a clever reply to Jesus, pushing back with his own example, replying “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."   She creates a moment in which Jesus can stop, and look again, and truly see her humanity and dignity.  And to the woman’s reply to him, Jesus says, "For saying that, you may go--the demon has left your daughter."  Not just, “yes, sorry about that first response, I will come and heal your daughter” but, “thanks for jarring me out of that.  Your daughter is already well again– go to her with my blessing.”

As the woman pushes back, Jesus changes his mind, he recalibrates his thoughts.  Three months ago I was on a baseball trip to California, seeing no fewer than nine games in eleven days, and while I was down there I actually skipped a game and instead took the opportunity to go to the Saturday evening service at St Mark Presbyterian in Newport Beach.  Their minister, Rev Dr Mark Davis, does a weekly online Bible commentary in which he goes deep into the original Greek text, work that is insightful and infused with a pastor’s heart.  At that evening service he was preaching on this same scripture lesson, and made the point that in the gospels, especially Mark, we don’t get a true sense of time.  These exchanges between Jesus and people are presented as if they are brief, snappy exchanges, over in the blink of an eye – or “immediately”, to use the gospel of Mark’s favourite word.  But, as Mark Davis reminded me, that’s not how human conversations actually unfold, and especially not as we think of Jesus as a traveling Rabbi who would have been well-versed in the rabbinical tradition of verbal jousting, good-spirited but edgy arguments on theological points of interest.  So Mark Davis imagines that after the woman pushes back on Jesus’ first insulting words, there might have been a lengthy silence as Jesus reconsiders his position.  Those of you who use GPS to help you find your route when driving are familiar with the “ungh-ungh, you made a mistake” sound that Google Maps or similar apps make when you have made a wrong turn and a recalibration is needed.  Well, posits Mark Davis, that’s what Jesus does here: pauses for a moment, recalibrates, and answers with love the second time, in so doing he respects the agency of the woman, restores a child to health and hope, and demonstrates the power of changing our minds, our words and our behaviours, when we are truly motivated by love.

 Last Sunday in this pulpit, Rev Steve mentioned the way that our old notions of God as almighty, all-powerful, never-changing, are ideas that many of us were raised with, but which have faded over the years as we experience what God’s amazing love looks like, applied over and over again in even the most challenging of circumstances.  This encounter in the gospel of Mark underlines that.  Jesus is open to the circumstances of this woman’s life, he’s willing to be challenged by her, he’s willing to admit that the first thing out of his mouth was not good enough, he is willing and able to change.   And as we see Jesus change his mind, it dawns on us that God’s mind can change and does change as well, as the heart of God is moved by love.

Though standard Christian dogma over the centuries forbids that God should ever change, I do not believe this to be the fact of the matter.  In stories as dramatic as the story of the great flood and the rainbow placed in the sky, God’s heart is changed by the reality of human suffering.  God steps back from anger and replaces it with a promise of peace.  God, the author of creativity itself, never leaves us and is moved by our sufferings.   God, who gave living beings the ability to adapt, also has this adaptive ability. When caught in a moment when he says something easy and hurtful, Jesus changes his mind, and in our faith history we see that God does too, always in the direction of something more just and loving than before.   As put by the Rev Dr Martin Luther King and others, “the arc of the moral universe is long – and it bends toward justice.”

In these next two years with you, Shannon and I will learn from you the story and culture of these congregations and this pastoral charge, we’ll investigate what it means to be in relationship with our neighbours, and we will be discerning God’s calling for your future.   You’ll hear more about that next week, as Shannon introduces you to the three primary questions that direct an Intentional Interim Ministry, but for now I want you to notice the adaptiveness that Jesus shows in getting past his first automatic response in order to find something more positive, productive and faithful.   That’s a skillset that all of us will need in our two years together: the ability to hear one another, to be moved and changed, and at times to change our hearts and our minds if long-held attitudes, beliefs and hopes need to be cut loose in order to make room for something new.  In the same way that Christ Jesus got past the snippy reply he blurted out without thinking, resetting in such a way that he could set aside old deeply ingrained prejudices and bring wholeness into a young girl’s life, so we are called to be open to new ways, and to change our minds and actions if that’s what’s needed for life to emerge in all its fullness.  Even as we see Jesus and God, our eternal creator adapting and changing, so must we.

God never leaves us stranded.  Jesus does not want us to stay stuck, any more than he would let himself stay stuck.  The Holy Spirit is always nudging and irritating and running ahead of us, encouraging our curiosity and our love and our heart for inclusion.  As we continued to be challenged by the needs of the world around us, and as we discern the calling that God has waiting for this pastoral charge, may we with God’s help be thoughtful, courageous, nimble and faithful.  Amen.  

References cited/consulted:

Coohill, Joseph – includes MLK quote. https://professorbuzzkill.com/2022/05/23/martin-luther-king-jr-the-arc-of-the-moral-universe-is-long-but-it-bends-toward-justice-quote-or-no-quote/

Davis, Mark. https://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2012/09/comparing-humans-to-dogs.html

Hunt, Janet. https://dancingwiththeword.com/what-to-make-of-jesus-and-the-syrophoenician-woman/

Steelman, Austin. https://harvardichthus.org/2016/01/jesus-and-the-syrophoenician-woman-a-lesson-on-refugees-and-law-school-seals/

© 2024 Rev Greg Wooley, Osoyoos/Oliver United.